The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

The Organ Player and His Wife

The Organ Player and His Wife

1495–1500
(German, c. 1440–1503)
Image: 16.6 x 11 cm (6 9/16 x 4 5/16 in.); Sheet: 16.6 x 11 cm (6 9/16 x 4 5/16 in.)
Catalogue raisonné: Lehrs IX.397.507
Location: not on view

Description

In a cozy, domestic setting, an organ player plays a portative with four registers. His wife operates the two bellows, producing the wind that gives the instrument its sound. The activity of one would be inconceivable and pointless without the other. The music they create together--as well as the faithful dog placed prominently in the foreground--refers to marital harmony.
  • “Annual Report for 1960.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 48, no. 6 (June 1961): 107–147. Reproduced: p. 115 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 108 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 108 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 87 archive.org
  • Art of Enterprise: Israhel van Meckenem’s 15th-Century Print Workshop. Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, WI (organizer) (December 18, 2023-March 24, 2024) https://chazen.wisc.edu/exhibitions/art-of-enterprise-israhel-van-meckenems-15th-century-print-workshop/.
    Themes and Variations: Musical Drawings and Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 25-May 17, 2015).
    Sacred and Profane in Late Gothic Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 2-August 2, 1987).
    Old Master Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 29, 1966-February 28, 1967).
    Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).
  • {{cite web|title=The Organ Player and His Wife|url=false|author=Israhel van Meckenem|year=1495–1500|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1960.73